What are the key takeaways from this Science Vs episode?

Key insights include: **Federal Website Censorship:** Thousands of government health pages on monkeypox prevention, HIV care, and LGBTQ health were removed or tagged with disclaimers rejecting gender ideology, eliminating critical public health data used to stop disease outbreaks.; **Research Funding Paralysis:** NIH grant approval meetings cannot proceed because federal register notices are blocked, preventing new drug research funding despite court orders to resume payments. Every FDA-approved drug from 2010-2019 involved NIH-funded research at some stage.; **Banned Scientific Terms:** NSF staff review tens of thousands of grants to flag words including women, female, black, Latinx, bias, and trauma. Researchers studying endometriosis and women's health face funding removal despite no connection to gender ideology debates.

What did Jocelyn Kaiser and Max Kozlov discuss on Science Vs?

The Trump administration has frozen research funding, fired thousands of federal scientists, scrubbed health websites, and banned terms like "gender" and "women" from CDC publications within three weeks of taking office. Key topics include: **Federal Website Censorship:** Thousands of government health pages on monkeypox prevention, HIV care, and LGBTQ health were removed or tagged with disclaimers rejecting gender ideology, eliminating critical public health data used to stop disease outbreaks.; **Research Funding Paralysis:** NIH grant approval meetings cannot proceed because federal register notices are blocked, preventing new drug research funding despite court orders to resume payments. Every FDA-approved drug from 2010-2019 involved NIH-funded research at some stage..

How long is this episode of Science Vs?

This episode is 34 minutes long. SignalCast provides an AI-generated summary so you can get the key insights in about 3 minutes.

Science Vs

The War on Science

February 19, 2025

34 min episode · 2 min read

Jocelyn Kaiser,Max Kozlov

Episode

34 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Health & Wellness, Psychology & Behavior

AI-Generated Summary

Published Dec 25, 2025

Key Takeaways

✓Federal Website Censorship: Thousands of government health pages on monkeypox prevention, HIV care, and LGBTQ health were removed or tagged with disclaimers rejecting gender ideology, eliminating critical public health data used to stop disease outbreaks.
✓Research Funding Paralysis: NIH grant approval meetings cannot proceed because federal register notices are blocked, preventing new drug research funding despite court orders to resume payments. Every FDA-approved drug from 2010-2019 involved NIH-funded research at some stage.
✓Banned Scientific Terms: NSF staff review tens of thousands of grants to flag words including women, female, black, Latinx, bias, and trauma. Researchers studying endometriosis and women's health face funding removal despite no connection to gender ideology debates.
✓USAID Dismantling: Clinical trial participants worldwide were abandoned mid-treatment on experimental drugs when USAID funding stopped. The President's Malaria Initiative and PEPFAR HIV prevention programs, started by George W Bush, face complete elimination rather than reform.

What It Covers

The Trump administration has frozen research funding, fired thousands of federal scientists, scrubbed health websites, and banned terms like "gender" and "women" from CDC publications within three weeks of taking office.

Key Questions Answered

•Federal Website Censorship: Thousands of government health pages on monkeypox prevention, HIV care, and LGBTQ health were removed or tagged with disclaimers rejecting gender ideology, eliminating critical public health data used to stop disease outbreaks.
•Research Funding Paralysis: NIH grant approval meetings cannot proceed because federal register notices are blocked, preventing new drug research funding despite court orders to resume payments. Every FDA-approved drug from 2010-2019 involved NIH-funded research at some stage.
•Banned Scientific Terms: NSF staff review tens of thousands of grants to flag words including women, female, black, Latinx, bias, and trauma. Researchers studying endometriosis and women's health face funding removal despite no connection to gender ideology debates.
•USAID Dismantling: Clinical trial participants worldwide were abandoned mid-treatment on experimental drugs when USAID funding stopped. The President's Malaria Initiative and PEPFAR HIV prevention programs, started by George W Bush, face complete elimination rather than reform.

Notable Moment

A former NIH director questioned why pharmaceutical companies remain silent when NIH funding cuts directly threaten their drug pipelines, suggesting industry fears drawing attention from an administration known for targeting critics with retribution.

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Episode Transcript

Hi. I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Versus. We are busily working on new episodes for our next season, which kicks off in March. We've got some awesome episodes coming up on ADHD and squirting. But before the fun games and waterworks, we just really wanted to update you on what was going on with science in The US right now. So Trump has said that he's trying to cut government spending. And last year, the US federal government deficit was $1,800,000,000,000. But still, scientists say that what is happening right now is unprecedented and insane. They're telling us that it's scary. One person told us that they've been crying every day. And to be honest with you, while following this attack on science, I've been crying too. It it I mean, it's mostly just shocking. You just can't believe that this is happening. This is Jocelyn Kaiser, a reporter for Science Magazine. We talked about how in the past few weeks, thousands of federal websites have had information pulled from them. Thousands of people at agencies like the CDC, National Institutes of Health, and the EPA have been fired. Clinical trials, really important clinical trials have been halted. Funding for research was stopped and then possibly restarted. There's just a lot of confusion. Jocelyn has been a journalist for over thirty years, and she told me that the changes she's seen since Trump became president are startling. You know, because we covered the first Trump administration, and it was nothing like this. It it is just like nobody I mean, you know, it goes far beyond science, but it's like nothing anybody has ever seen in their lifetimes. And it's just it's just bizarre. It's like, what is this world world we're living in? I mean, it's it's censorship. It's not scientific. It's just complete crap. Headlines are screaming that Trump is waging an assault on science that will make Americans dumber and sicker. So after the break, what is actually happening right now? And how bad is this? This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. AI is only as powerful as a platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows, and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com. This episode is brought to you by Ford BlueCruise. There's something to be said about long drives, the playlists, the games, the snacks, the goofy stuff we do for our entertainment. Ford BlueCruise makes these moments even better. With hands free highway driving, it takes one thing off your plate so you can fully enjoy the drive and the company and every mile of the journey. It makes me think …

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